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Friday, 25 January 2019

Family of War Veteran Discovered Pile of Bomb Shrapnel on His Body After He Was Cremated

While on a mission in France in August of 1944, Ronald Brown stepped on a land mine. The blast sent red-hot fragments into his left leg and he was forced to crawl for two miles to safety.

Considering the medical conditions of the day, it was decided that it would be safer to leave the shrapnels in his body.

Brown survived the war, became a tax inspector, and lived to have a normal family life. He told his family about him stepping on the mine and just said the accident left him with a ‘bad knee’. He said he still had one ‘bullet’ in his leg and asked his grandchildren to not sit on his lap because of the pain.

But when he died at age 94, in October of 2012, his family finally discovered the full weight of shrapnel he's been carrying in his body all these years.

The discovery happened when his family cremated his body and the cremation staff handed them back a bag full of bomb shrapnel — about 6oz of them.

Daughter Jane Madden, 55, said her father told her there has still a bullet in his knee from the war, never mentioning the fragments.

"I don't think he ever realised all that was in his leg - it weighed about six ounces.

"He'd said there was a bullet in his leg but I was imagining one romantic piece of metal.”

"But when we went to scatter his ashes we asked whether the bullet had been found and they gave us this bag full of metal.

"It's just macabre really and amazing because he never used to complain about the pain. It just shows how brave he was."